It's Been 12 Years...

It's making me feel very old that I was last in Scandanavia 12 years ago. Mind you, I've only been there once before, but "12 years ago" is just too great a distance between now and something I did as an adult.

Here I am having a discussion with Larry Grossberg, who co-edited the CultStuds bible, which came out in 1992. Check out the vintage Esteban here! Pre-LASIK, pre-divorce, pre-union, pre-Ph.D. No hint of irony with that American flag sweater, eh?

Jardins et muséums

We leave for Sweden in about 24 hours. Lots to do around here, but I am also very excited about Paris. Yup, you read that correctly. Renee is airlifting Kathy and me into Paris for 48 hours; and she's keeping the kids with her in Marstrand. What a fantastic gift. The NYT had a great article today about the hidden gardens of Paris.

Here's where we are staying.

With only 2 days, we are going to do non-Louvre museums and Paris gardens. Oh, and food. And wine.

Museums and gardens were on my list, but I was thinking Versailles and Louvre. How can you be so close and not go to those? But given the timeframe, a visit to either seems foolish. The trip out to Versailles would eat up a lot of time; gorgeous gardens are everywhere in the city. The line for the Louvre, let alone its huge collection, would also be a choking hazard.

So I like the non-Louvre museums and gardens idea. Plus, these are places where my nearly non-existent French won't cramp our style.

Dan Brown

I've taken a shine to this kid in Nebraska who regularly video weblogs. Man, I wish I were this together as a young kid.





http://www.danbrownuniverse.com

Headphones Mix Process

So, I'm going to blog about how I do one of these mixes.

First, I get the idea for the theme. This is a mix with songs that include the word "headphones," though I know I am going to make an exception and include Dylan's "Ballad of a Thin Man," which has the word "Earphones."

The idea is songs that use headphones as an image or metaphor (in one case, a simile).

Here's a great quote from one of the tunes:

Life ain't nothin' but a good groove
A good mixtape to put you in the right mood
--Beastie Boys "Professor Booty"

Second, I start thinking of other tunes to put on there. I have my "seed songs," Bjork and Dylan in this case. Now I just need to think up or find other tunes that fit. The Propellerheads song "You Want It Back" comes to mind, but that one might not make it for the next reason.

Third, I start to play with the theme or narrow my criteria. For example, some of these songs don't really make SOLID use of the word "headphones." So, thinking about it, I can see that minimal/unacceptable use would be defined this way: no mere "studio talk" about headphones. The Propellerheads tune fits this: "Give me a little more music in my headphones" is just studio talk that got left in for fun. Sadly, the 1997 Prince song below fits this, too. I really wanted to include that one, because it surprised me. It's an odd little song.

Fourth, I do a "tune harvest." I start with tunes I have on my HD. For these mixes, that's usually not many (it's not uncommon for me to have copies of the "Seed tunes" on hand). Then I go for the tunes I know but don't own. I hunt them up on a variety of sites, pay for some, download others for free. The most fun I have doing a mix is the last type of tune harvesting, and that is seeking out new tunes that fit the theme. Most of this is creative Googling or searching on places like iTunes or Rhapsody. For this mix, I did something totally different; I used a search engine attached to one of the many lyrics pages online. That worked great for this theme, which was focused on one vocab item. I will use that strategy again in future mixes. I have found several new bands that I enjoy during the tune harvest phase.

I usually end up with at least 24 tunes that need to be reduced to 12. I am about half way with this now. Here are 16 tunes:



Now I need to listen to these and remove songs (step 5). Propellerheads and Prince are coming off for reasons said before; The Jethro Tull tune is just awful, so I think it will come off, too (I posted earlier about bad 80s production; some tunes can survive, but this one is DOA). Maybe Aaron will disagree, but this Tull tune is unusable.

Re-ordered and tunes eliminated:



I took this playlist to the park on my iPod and listened while the kids played. I think this order will do. The Bjork tune is very quiet, but that can't be helped--it's supposed to be this way. Now it's time to start uploading the tunes to Muxtape.

Sixth, I create a Muxtape and start uploading. I upload the tunes in reverse order--that way it's done after you upload the last tune. While I am uploading I do other things (such as respond to e-mail, etc.) or I move to step 7.

Seventh, I write up the little snippets for the liner notes. Maybe look for a good image to put on the page (I already found that cool t-shirt thing). So I am about to start that in a new blog page, so this process thing is done. Left over are some lyrics:


Bjork

My headphones
They saved my life
Your tape
Lulled me to sleep


Dylan

There ougta be a law against you coming around
You should be made to wear earphones


Lyrics:

Joni Mitchell:

I'm drinking sweet champagne
Got the headphones up high
Can't numb you out
Can't drum you out of my mind

Ultravox:

On a crowded beach washed by the sun
He puts his headphones on.
His modern world revolves
Around the synthesizer's song.

Fallout Boy:

Tonight the headphones will deliver you
The words that I can't say.

Massive Attack:

Living in my headphones
Sony's what I say to 'em
The surreal boom
Of the Budokan Stadium

G Love and Special Sauce

It's like chewing gum with your headphones on

Modest Mouse

The white trash boys
Listen to the headphones
Blasting white noise
In the convenience store parking lot

Tempie/Boatman

Here's a video from last year of my buddy Bob and I doing "Tempie/Boatman" together. This is a version inspired by Bob Carlin & Bruce Molsky.

Cool Stuff

Okay, I am loving this band Beirut, which Joshua hipped me to recently. Two great videos below: one live in Paris and the other a traditional music video. Love this stuff.












In other news, Jackie is going to help me with some creative writing. I have not done any non-work related writing for several years. In fact, this article I published in The American Organist is the only work I've ever published.

Jackie said she'd help me with my short story about blackmail gone awry on a college campus. She also expressed an interest in helping me with my Guillotine Suicides essay. Perhaps I should create a creative writing blog (I pledged to do a blogging workshop for HS kids later this summer--should be fun; I won't expose them to the guillotine stuff).

The Passage of Time...

The passage of time
Is flicking dimly upon the screen
I can't see the lines
I used to think I could read between.

After a day of teaching, yardwork, feeding the kids (they're home!) and cleaning up, I am spinning the really fine Eno mix I made a while back. It has me thinking about time.

I made friends with these records 24 years ago. Man, it's hard to imagine. The funny thing is that they seemed like really old records when I got them. In 1984, the year 1974 seemed like an eternity before. I was Owen's age when the record was made. I was driving when I first heard it.

These are great records.